HemisFair Park bills filed

State Rep. Mike Villarreal and Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, both Democrats from San Antonio, have filed bills that would give planners of HemisFair Park the flexibility to rearrange park space without a public vote.

This would allow planners to expedite the HemisFair master plan, which calls for adding more park space.

HemisFair now has 14.97 acres of dedicated park space, but only 6.5 acres are actually being used as such. The remaining acres are technically defined as park, but they are occupied by buildings or parking lots.

The HemisFair Park master plan would bump the amount of usable park space to 20 acres.

House Bill 2018 and Senate Bill 930 address the change. You can look them up at capitol.state.tx.us.

Villarreal’s proposal prohibits hotel development inside the park.

“There are plenty of places in downtown San Antonio to build a hotel,” he said. “This bill ensures the park is designed for San Antonio residents, not tourists.”

The first significant portion of HemisFair’s redevelopment, what’s being called Plaza de Artes, is a large playground area in the southwest corner of the park. There is a residential component as well. Click here to learn more.

Also, Alamo and Chavez streets are scheduled to receive major work  the addition of bike lanes, wider sidewalks and more trees  but it’s not going to begin until late 2014, when the Market Street realignment is complete. Click here to learn more.